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Forest Service says none of their firefighters have confirmed cases of COVID-19

A briefing at the Happy Camp Complex in northern California, August 24, 2014. USFS photo by Kari Greer.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service said the agency is not aware of any of their firefighters that have confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Kaari Carpenter, a Lead Public Affairs Specialist, said crews are still responding to wildfires “within appropriate risk management strategies, current guidance of the Centers for Disease Control, and local health and safety guidelines.”

She said none of their fire crews have been quarantined due to the pandemic.

It remains to be seen how wildland fire management will modify their procedures on small and large fires, including operational period briefings for large numbers of firefighters — as seen in the photo above.

2 thoughts on “Forest Service says none of their firefighters have confirmed cases of COVID-19”

Yeah, no confirmed cases. Maybe it’s because we don’t have an adequate ability to test people in this country. The young healthy population, that is known to not have major symptoms is the firefighter workforce and even if we feel ill we can’t get tested. So, no confirmed cases. Why would they even release this absurd “statistic”.

The question remains…..how many USFS firefighters have been tested to date? How many are asymptomatic? Not just USFS, but BLM, FWS, etc etc etc. After reading and hearing firsthand accounts of how this virus attacks the body, I wish it on no one, and hope everyone is practicing social distancing and staying home as much as possible. Watch out for each other out there….now more then ever…..